Evicted Karwan Bazar shop owners yet to be compensated

Evicted businessmen at Karwan Bazar Railway Supermarket are yet to get compensations although funds were allocated to the Railway Welfare Trust.

The store owners also complained of a lack of efforts for their rehabilitation.

They began their business in 1974 beside the railway tracks in Karwan Bazar but had been evicted in 1988 by Bangladesh Railway. Later, 270 shops were built in the area and allocated to those businessmen through the Railway Welfare Trust.

The Railway Welfare Trust had built a shopping complex and leased it out to the businessmen.

However, in 2011, Bangladesh Bridge Authority acquired 890,955.91 square metres of land from the Tejgaon rail gate to Karwan Bazar, including the Railway Supermarket, for the construction of Dhaka Elevated Expressway.  

The authority began its eviction drive in its acquired land on Tuesday. The store owners were seen removing their stuff when the bdnews24.com reporter visited the site.

The store owners complained that they were never compensated although the bridge authority allocated Tk 20 million to the Railway Welfare Trust for their compensation and rebuilding structures.

According to the Land Acquisition Act 1982, compensation should be paid following the law for houses, structures, ponds and trees on the acquired land.

A document on the Land Acquisition Compensation and Rehabilitation of Dhaka Elevated Expressway PPP Project shows that those affected by land acquisition are eligible for compensation.

Those small businessmen without income tax certificates will get Tk 15,000 in relocation funds, while the amount is Tk 30,000 for mid-sized businesses and Tk 45,000 for big businesses.

Small business owners will have a maximum of Tk 20,000, mid-sized business owners Tk 50,000 and big business owners will have up to Tk 75,000 as one-time relocation cost in case they have income tax certificates.

The businessmen affected by the eviction of railway structures along the area from Banani to Karwan Bazar were supposed to be rehabilitated within two years, as decided in 2016.

However, the rehabilitation is yet to take place, said the businessmen.

“We are badly affected as our shops have been bulldozed. I am jobless, so are my staff,” said Md Bachchu Miah, a shop owner in Karwan Bazar Railway Market.

“People bought stuff on credit from me; I won’t be able to get the money once I leave this place. Also, they are not giving the compensation or arranging any rehabilitation for us as promised,” he added.

A number of 153 stores belonged to members of Tejgaon Small Traders Association.

They do not have any objection to land acquisition by the government but their compensation should be paid properly, Abdus Shukur, general secretary of the association, told bdnews24.com.

“The Railway Welfare Trust snatched our structure bill; so, they should build another market for us. However, we don’t know if they will do it ever.”

“We have always paid regular tax to the welfare trust before the land was acquired but now the government is providing compensations for small traders in nearby slums and not us. They are not even evicted yet,” said Abdul Halim, treasurer of Tejgaon Small Traders Association.

The bridge authority ‘can do nothing’ as ‘the compensation amount has been paid to the Railway Welfare Trust,’ Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project director Qazi Muhammed Ferdous told bdnews24.com.

“Those running their business at present will be paid compensation in phases.”

“I don’t have the full details as the railway trust works separately,” Amzad Hossain, director general of Bangladesh Railway, told bdnews24.com.

“As far as I know, those affected here are likely to have compensation and be rehabilitated, which is being provided by the bridge authority,” he said.

“The bridge authority paid funds for eviction and rehabilitation. The businessmen will be compensated by the bridge authority itself,” said ANM Shahidur Rahman, deputy director of finance at the Railway Welfare Trust.

He also said the businessmen have used the shopping complex for the last two years and they owe the Trust Tk 20.3 million.

Although he attributed the compensation to the bridge authority, Shahidur assured businessmen of rehabilitation.

“These businessmen will be given priority when we build another market after getting land from the railway authority.”